Landmines found near bridge on Bharathapuzha

MALAPPURAM: The district police went into a tizzy after five Claymore directional anti-personnel mines were found near the NH-66 bridge across the

River Bharathapuzha

at

Kuttipuram

.

A senior police officer said it was too early to term the incident an attempted sabotage or a deliberate move. Claymore and its variants are used across the world.

Though the mines—found on Thursday evening—were “live”, no detonators or remote control devices were found.

Police bomb squad visited the scene on Friday morning. They examined the explosives and transferred them to the armed police camp.

The discovery of M18A1mines, reportedly live, grabbed the attention of intelligence agencies. A team of experts from the

National Security Guards

would be visiting the district to examine the explosives.

Police have also found bags issued to the army and pieces of cloths from the spot. Senior officers, including inspector-general of police (Thrissur range) M R Ajithkumar and district police chief in charge Pratheesh Kumar, inspected the scene on Friday.

The district police chief said a detailed probe was necessary to say if the incident was a deliberate or sabotage attempt.

“We are yet to confirm whether the objects were abandoned or purposefully planted,” he said.

DSP

V A Ullas of

Tirur

police said the materials were first noticed by a local resident on Thursday evening. He alerted the police immediately, and the bomb squad and senior police officers inspected them on Friday morning.

The absence of detonators or remote devices, used to detonate the mines, have made the police suspect that someone had discarded the useless explosives in the river.

The mines were found some 50 metres from the bridge, connecting Kozhikode with Thrissur, Ullas said.

The landlines were found from an area frequented by local residents.

The explosives were found some 50 metres away from the pillar of the Kuttipuram bridge on the River Bharathapuzha.

Police sources a youth from Valanchery, who noticed the devices lying on the dried-up riverbed, clicked their photographs on Thursday evening.

While trying to upload the pictures to his Facebook page, he noticed the inscription, “Front Toward Enemy.” The wordings made him suspicious, and he alerted the police.